Communications channels in media systems

ABSTRACT

A computing device includes program instructions to select, based on indicia of interest for media content for each of a plurality of users, a first user and second user to engage in an interaction related to a media content item. The computing device further includes programming to select a topic related to the media content item for the interaction and initiate the interaction between the first and second user based on the topic.

BACKGROUND

Existing media systems provide media content to users by streaming thedata to user devices such as mobile telephones and laptops, and mediadevices such as set-top boxes, gaming consoles, televisions, etc. Toassist users to select media content, it may be desirable for a mediasystem to identify, based on data related to users, media content itemsthat are likely to be of interest to the user, and to present them tothe user, via user interfaces such as graphical user interfaces on theuser and media devices. Challenges exist in addressing these issues,e.g, in generating communications channels between devices within themedia system based on user related data.

DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an exemplary media system for providing mediacontent items.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an exemplary process for collecting and storingdata and related to media content.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an exemplary process for determining user andmedia parameters.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an exemplary process for initiating interactionsbetween media content customer systems.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are a diagram of a further exemplary process forinitiating interactions between media content customer systems.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of a yet further exemplary process for initiatinginteractions between media content customer systems.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Exemplary System

A central computer system collects user data related to users of mediacontent items. The user data includes data related to media contentusage, user communications related to media content, user feedbackrelated to media content, user response data during the viewing of amedia content item, etc. The user data further includes other datarelated to the user, such as demographic data, situation data, etc. Thecomputer system collects user data in a variety of ways. For example,the computer system may collect data by requesting the data from theuser, by monitoring the user via sensors, by parsing usercommunications, etc.

Based on the user data, the computer system initiates interactionsbetween media content customer systems, sometimes referred to asuser-user interactions, related to media content items. Further, basedon the data, the computer system identifies correlations betweenuser-user communications and subsequent media usage. The correlationsare ranked based on a level of correlation. A high level of correlationindicates that a first user may have decided to view a media contentitem at least in part due to the communication. Similarly, a high levelof correlation indicates that the first user may have decided to viewthe media content item at least in part due to another participant inthe communication.

As shown in FIG. 1, an exemplary computer system 10 includes one or moreuser devices 22, one or more media devices 24, a media content server30, a data server 40 and a network 50. The one or more user devices 22and one or more media devices 24 may be included in respective userlocations 20.

Each of the user devices 22, media devices 24, media content server 30,and data server 40 are communicatively coupled via the network 50.

The computer system 10 further includes one or more sensors 70. Thesensors 70 may be independent computing devices with sensing elements,communicatively coupled within the computer system 10 via the network50. Additionally or alternatively, the sensors 70 may be included in theone or more user devices 22 and media devices 24. In this case, thesensors 70 may be communicatively coupled within the system 10 via theassociated user device 22 or media device 24.

The sensors 70 are programmed to collect data related to the user.Non-limiting examples of sensors 70 include microphones, cameras,biometric sensors (heart rate, blood pressure, etc.), movement sensorssuch as accelerometers and gyroscopes, temperature sensors, locationsensors (e.g., a global positioning system), etc. The sensors 70 collectdata such as user movements, user verbal communications, user facialexpressions, user location, user biometric data, etc. The sensors 70provide the user data to the data server 40.

The user device 22 may be a known computing device such as a mobiletelephone, tablet, smart wearable (smart watch, fitness band, etc.),other computing device, etc. The user device 22 includes one or moreprocessors and one or more memories, and may include sensors 70 forcollecting user data. The user device 22 may further include one or moreuser applications such as email, a calendar, web browser, social mediainterfaces, etc. The user device 22 is programmed to collect data fromthe sensors 70 and/or from the user applications and provide the data tothe data server 40. The user device 22 may further be programmed toreceive media content and display the media content to the user. Theterm “media content” as used herein, refers to audio and/or video data,e.g., in a format such as described below. The media content may bereceived, for example, from the media content server 30.

The media device 24 receives and displays media content, and istypically a known computing device including one or more processors andone or more memories. Non-limiting examples of a media device include aset-top box, a laptop, desktop, tablet computer, game box, a television,a smart television, etc.

As with the user device 22, the media device 24 may include one or moresensors 70 for collecting user data. The media device 24 may beprogrammed to collect data from the sensors 70 and provide the data tothe data server 40. Further, the media device 24 may be programmed tocollect user data such as media content usage data and provide the datato the data server 40. For example, the media device 24 may detect whichchannel and/or media content item a user is viewing, detect when theuser changes channels, fast forwards through media content, rewindsmedia content to review, etc., and can provide this data to the dataserver 40.

The system 10 is described as including both user devices 22 and mediadevices 24. However, the operations of displaying media content to auser, collecting data related to the user and communicating with theuser can be performed by either or both of these devices 22, 24. Thesystem 10 only requires that a user be associated with at least one of auser device 22 and media device 24 capable of performing theseoperations.

The media content server 30 may be, for example, a known computingdevice included in one or more of a cable or satellite televisionheadend, a video streaming service such as generally includes amultimedia web server (or some other computing device), etc. The mediaserver 30 may provide media content, e.g., a movie, live event, audio,to the user devices 22 and/or media devices 24.

The media content is typically delivered as compressed audio and/orvideo data. For example, the data may be formatted according to knownstandards such as MPEG or H.264. MPEG refers to a set of standardsgenerally promulgated by the International StandardsOrganization/International Electrical Commission Moving Picture ExpertsGroup (MPEG). H.264 refers to a standard promulgated by theInternational Telecommunications Union (ITU). Accordingly, by way ofexample and not limitation, media content may be provided to a mediadevice 13 in a format such as the MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or the H.264/MPEG-4Advanced Video Coating standards (AVC) (H.264 and MPEG-4 at presentbeing consistent) and HEVC/H.265. As is known, MPEG and H.264 datainclude metadata, audio, and video components. Further, media contentand advertisement content in the media system 10 could alternatively oradditionally be provided according to some other standard or standards.For example, media content and advertisement content could be audio dataformatted according to standards such as MPEG-2 Audio Layer III (MP3),Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), etc.

The data server 40 may be a known computing device including one or moreprocessors and one or more memories. As described in detail below, thedata server 40 is programmed to collect and store user data in a userdatabase 60. The user data includes data related to usage andpreferences of media content items, and further includes other data suchas user demographic data, user situational data, user relationship data,etc. User data may specifically include keywords indicating userpreferences related to media content and the viewing experience.Keywords will be discussed in additional detail below.

The data server 40 is further programmed to collect data related tomedia content items and store the data in a media content database 62.Media content data includes descriptive data such as type of mediacontent item, actors associated with the media content items, soundtrackcomposers associated with the media content item, etc. Media contentdata 62 further includes user data related to the media content itemsuch as ratings of the media content items, keywords associated with themedia content item by the users, trend data such as quantity ofcommunications related to the media content item, etc.

The network 50 represents one or more mechanisms for providingcommunications, including the transfer of media content items, betweenthe user devices 22, the media devices 24, the media server 30, the dataserver 40 and the sensors 70. Accordingly, the network 50 may be one ormore of various wired or wireless communication mechanisms, includingany desired combination of wired (e.g., cable and fiber) and/or wireless(e.g., cellular, wireless, satellite, microwave, and radio frequency)communication mechanisms and any desired network topology (or topologieswhen multiple communication mechanisms are utilized). Exemplarycommunication networks include wireless communication networks, localarea networks (LAN) and/or wide area networks (WAN), including theInternet, etc.

As discussed above, user devices 22 and media devices 24 may includesensors 70. The sensors 70 collect user data, and provide the user datato the data server 40 via the network 50.

For example, a microphone in the user device 22 may listen, on asubstantially continuous basis, to the surroundings, and record userconversations and other received sounds and provide audio data to thedata server 40. As another example, the sensors 70 may collect biometricdata related to the user, such as the user's blood pressure, heartrateor body temperature.

Example Processes

FIG. 2 is diagram of an exemplary process 200 collecting and storingdata related to users of media content. The process 200 starts in ablock 202.

In the block 202, the data server 40 collects media usage data withregard to one or more users of media content. Usage data is data relatedto a user's media viewing behavior, and includes data related to theuser's viewing of media content. Examples of usage data include themedia content items viewed by the user, when the user viewed therespective media content items, the type of device the user used to viewthe media content items, and other data indicating user media contentusage. Examples of usage data further include actions taken by the userduring the viewing of the media content item such as rewinding the mediacontent to review a segment, fast forwarding the media content item toskip a segment, channel surfing during the viewing of a media contentitem, choosing to record the media content item while viewing it, etc.

The data server 40 may receive the usage data from one or both of theuser device 22 and the media device 24. For example, the user may view amedia content item on the media device 24. While viewing the mediacontent item, the user may, via a remote control device, fast-forwardthrough one or more segments of the media content item. The media device24 may provide data to the data server 40 identify segments of the mediacontent item that the user skipped. As another example, the user mayview a media content item such as a streamed movie on the user device22. The user may, after watching a few minutes of the movie, turn offthe movie. The user device 22 may provide data to the data server 40indicating that the user discontinued the movie and further provide dataindicating how long the user watched the movie before turning it off.

Upon collecting the user media usage data, the process 200 continues ina block 204. Note that although the process 200 is described as asequential series of data collection steps, one or more of these datacollection steps may take place at the same time. Additionally, theorder of performing the different collection steps may be adjusted.

In the block 204, the data server 40 collects user feedback related tomedia content items. User feedback is data related to a media contentitem or media content view experience provided explicitly by the userand includes data such as reviews provided by the user and ratingsprovided by the user. For example, upon determining that the user hascompleted viewing a media content item, the data server 40 may requestthe user to provide feedback. The user may, based on the response (orwithout a prompt), for example, record a video related to the mediacontent item via a user device 22. The user device 22 may provide theuser feedback to the data server 40.

As another example, the server 40 may request, via a graphical userinterface (GUI) on the user device 22, that the user provide a ratingfor the media content item. The user may input a score such as one outof five. Additionally, via the GUI, the user may provide a comment suchas, “that movie was really boring. I only watched it because I was stuckin an airport.” The user device 22 may provide the rating and/or commentto the data server 40. Upon collecting the user feedback, the process200 continues in a block 206.

In the block 206, the server 40 collects data related to the environmentof the user during the viewing of the media content item. Environmentaldata includes where the user viewed the media content item, e.g., athome, in a movie theater, in a law school classroom, etc. Environmentaldata additionally includes which type of device the user used to viewthe media content item, the format, e.g., high definition or lowdefinition, size of display, etc., the people with whom the user isviewing the media content item, etc. As an example, sensors 70 such ascameras included in a media device 24 may collect image data of one ormore persons watching a media content item in a user location 20. Themedia device 24 may provide the image data to the data server 40. Thedata server 40 may, using facial recognition techniques such as areknown, identify the user and other persons watching the media contentitem. Based on the data, the data server 40 may determine with whom theuser viewed the media content item.

As another example, the user may view the media content item on the userdevice 22. A global positioning system (GPS) included in the user device22 may determine a location of the user device 22 during the viewingexperience. The user device 22 may provide data to the data server 40indicating that, for example the user was riding in a vehicle onInterstate 75 while viewing the media content item. Upon collecting theenvironmental data associated with the media content viewing experience,the process 200 continues in a block 208.

In the block 208, the data server 40 collects user response data. Userresponse data is data that indicates a user's behavior while viewing themedia content item. User response data may include comments made by theuser during the viewing of the media content item, facial expressions ofthe user during the viewing of the media content item, movement of theuser (e.g., standing up, walking away, watching intently) during theviewing of the media content item, etc. Sensors 70 included in the userlocation 20, the user device 22, and/or the media device 24 may monitorthe user during the viewing of the media content item and collect userresponse data. The sensors 70 provide the user response data to the dataserver 40. Upon collecting and providing the user response data to thedata server 40, the process 200 continues in a block 210.

In the block 210, the data server 40 collects user communications data.User communications data include data parsed from digital communicationssuch as emails, social media posts, text messages, etc. Usercommunications data further includes data from user telephoneconversations and face-to-face communications.

The data server 40 collects the data via sensors 70, and further viaapplications included in the user device 22 and media device 24. Forexample, the user device 22 may be programmed to parse data from emails,text messages, and social media posts and provide the data to the dataserver 40. Sensors 70 in the user location 20, user device 22 and mediadevice 24 may be programmed to collect audio data from userconversations and provide the audio data to the data server 40. The dataserver 40 may store the data.

The communications data may relate to media content. For example, theuser may explain in a conversation how much the user liked or disliked amedia content item to another user. The user may additionally indicatewhy the user liked or disliked the media content item, i.e., due to theacting, a particular actor, the storyline, the special effects, etc. Insuch cases, as described in additional detail below, the data server 40may utilize the data to determine user media content preferences,affinities between users, and correlations between communications andsubsequent viewing behavior (usage). The data server 40 may furtherutilize the data to identify and connect users to each other based onshared media content preferences, diverse media content preferences,etc.

The data server 40 may additionally collect and store communicationsdata unrelated to media content items. For example, the communicationsmay include situation data that indicate that the user is working a lotof overtime, the user is having guests for Thanksgiving, the user isgoing to retire soon, is on vacation etc. The server 40 may utilize thisdata to determine correlations between user situations and media usage(or preferences), affinities between users (going through similar lifeexperiences), etc.

Upon collecting the user communications data, the process 200 continuesin a block 212.

In the block 212 this data server 40 collects other user data. Otheruser data includes demographic data such as the age, gender, maritalstatus, level of education, etc. of the user. Other data may furtherinclude health data, financial data, affiliations, etc. The data server40 may collect the other data directly from the user via a graphicaluser interface (GUI), from forms (tax returns), from communications asdescribed above, from third party communications, etc. Upon collectingthe other user data, the process 200 continues in a block 214.

In the block 214, the data server 40 stores the collected data. Forexample, the data server 40 may establish user accounts for each userwithin the user database 60. Each user account may include data relatedto each media content item that the user watched, user responses to themedia content item, user usage data related to the media content item,environmental data related to the viewing experience, and other userdata.

As described below, the data server 40 may determine one or moreparameters related to the user, such as user media preferences, userkeywords, a user recommendation list, etc. The data server 40 mayadditionally store these parameters in the respective user account inthe user database 60. The user database 60 may include one or morerelational databases, such that correlations between different types ofdata and/or parameters may be established. Correlations, as used herein,means a mutual relationship or connection, in which one type of data orparameter has a defined relationship (e.g., according to a mathematicalfunction or formula) to another type of data or parameter.

In addition to storing data organized as user accounts, the data server40 may store data related to media content items within a media contentdatabase 62. For example, the data server 40 may, for each media contentitem, store data indicating who viewed the media content item, ratingsof users who viewed the media content item, comments made by usersrelated to the media content item, etc. As with the user database 60,the media content database 62 may include one or more relationaldatabases, such that correlations may be established between differenttypes of media data.

The data server 40 may additionally determine one or more parametersrelated to the media content items such as a media content rating (basedon a plurality of users) and media content keywords.

Upon storing the collected data and determined parameters in the userdatabase 60 and the media content database 62, the process 200 ends.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an exemplary process 300 for determining userindicia of interest for media content. Indicia of interest areindicators of a likelihood that a user will consume and/or enjoy a mediacontent item and include user media preferences and ratings, userkeywords associated with media content preferences, and correlationsbetween media viewing environment and user ratings based on collecteduser data. The process 300 additionally determines user-user affinitiesand media content keywords. The process 300 starts in a block 302.

In the block 302, the data server 40 determines user media contentpreferences based on collected user data. User data includes any of thedata collected in the process 200. The data server 40 may, for exampleevaluate user preferences based on different types of user data such asmedia content usage data, direct user feedback, environmental datarelated to the media content viewing experience, user response datarelated to the media viewing, user communications and other user data.Processes may be developed to determine, for example, a score for eachcategory of data for different types of media content, or a particularmedia content item, normalize each score to a range such as zero to ten,and then average the different scores. Although the discussion belowwill focus on movies as a type of media content, the processes describedapply to many other types of media content such as TV programming, cableprogramming, audio programming, etc.

As an example, the data server 40 may be programmed to collect andanalyze media content usage by a user to determine preferences.Initially, the data server 40 may determine based on collected usagedata, which types of movies the user watches. Metadata associated witheach movie may indicate a type of the respective movie, such as action,comedy, sports, drama, science fiction, horror, etc. Based on themetadata of the movies watched by the user, the data server 40 maydetermine for example that 70% of the movies the user watches are actionmovies, 20% of the movies watched are comedies and the remaining 10% issplit up between sports movies and dramas. Based on this usage data, theserver 40 may, for example, assign a category score of seven for actionmovies, two for comedy movies, and 0.5 for sports movies and dramas tothe user.

The data server 40 may additionally be programmed to collect/determineratings from users of individual media content items. In one example,upon determining that a user has completed viewing a media content item,the server 40 may request a numerical rating of the media content itemfrom the user. For example the user may be asked to assign a numericalrating between zero and ten, a number of stars out of five possiblestars, etc. If necessary, the numerical rating can be normalized to ascale of zero to ten.

In another example, the user may be asked to provide video feedback. Theuser may provide comments about the media content item including howmuch the user liked it, what elements of the media content item the userparticularly liked, what elements of the media content item the user didnot like, etc. The server 40 may store the video feedback and associatethe video feedback with the user.

The server 40 may further analyze the video feedback. Initially, theserver 40 may analyze the language of the video feedback using speechanalysis as is known. As an example, the server 40 may identify words orphrases indicating a positive or negative response to the movie such as“great,” “awful,” “waste of time,” “engaging,” etc. the server 40 mayassign values to these words or phrases indicating a positive ornegative response. For example, a server 40 may maintain a table ofwords such as the following:

TABLE 1 Word or Phrase Value Great 9 Engaging 8 awful 1 waste of time 1other word or phrase assigned value

Based on the identified words or phrases indicating a positive ornegative response, the data server 40 determines a first emotionalscore. For example the server 40 may take an average of the values ofthe identified words or phrases.

Additionally, the data server 40 may evaluate voice quality of the videoto determine a second emotional score for the user. The data server 40may utilize voice quality analysis techniques to analyze variousqualities of the speech such as speed of the speech, inflection,monotonicity, volume, pitch, etc. The data server 40 may compare thedata to data for the general population, or for a demographic segmentthereof, e.g., according to age, gender, etc., of the user. Suchcomparison, using the general population data as a baseline, can be usedto evaluate an emotional state of the user, e.g., the user may have apositive or negative emotional state that could be quantified as apercentage worse or better than the general population. For example,speech with a level of contrast within a particular range, e.g., where apitch of a user's voice varies in frequency by more than a specifiedamount within a specified time, may indicate that the user is happy,excited, etc. Speech at a speed below a speed threshold or withdecreasing volume, e.g., by more than a predetermined decibel threshold,at the end of phrases may indicate that the user is disappointed. Thedata server 40 may store one or more tables or the like associatingvalues or ranges of values for sound characteristics, e.g., speed of thespeech, inflection, monotonicity, volume, pitch, etc., with respectiveemotional states. Further, the data server 40 may use tables or the likethat assign emotional scores, e.g., on a scale of zero to ten, based onthe determined emotional state of the user. Positive emotions such ashappy may have a high score, e.g., nine or ten. Negative emotions suchas disappointment, boredom, etc., may be assigned lower scores such asone or two.

As an example of analyzing voice quality, the server 40 may identifythat the speech from the user was fast and included significant pitchvariation. The server 40 may determine based on those characteristicsthat the user was excited about the movie and assign an emotional scoreof nine.

The server 40 may further evaluate facial expressions of the videofeedback to determine a third emotional score. Using facial recognitiontechniques as are known, the server 40 may determine an emotional stateof the user, such as happy, sad, excited, bored, etc. The data servermay collect facial expression data such as position of the lips andmouth (forming a smile, forming a frown, lips parted, lips together,edges of mouth spread widely or relaxed and closer together), positionof eyebrows (raised, relaxed) position of eyelids (wide open, half-shut,shut), position of forehead (horizontal furrows, vertical furrows,relaxed), etc. The data server 40 may analyze this data to identifyexpressions such as smiles, frowns, expressions of surprise, expressionsof disgust etc. The data server 40 may determine a likely emotionalstate of the user based on the identified expressions. Additionally oralternatively, as described above with respect to voice qualityanalysis, the data server 40 may compare user facial expression datawith data representative of the general population, or a demographicgroup corresponding to the user. Based on the comparison, the dataserver 40 may determine an emotional state of the user. The data server40 may use tables that assign emotional scores based on the determinedemotional state of the user. Expressions may be given values from zeroto ten with positive facial expressions getting higher values andnegative facial expressions getting lower values. The values may beadjusted based on a determined intensity of the expression. For example,a big smile combined with an expression of surprise may get a nine orten, while a look of disgust might get a one.

In the case that the server 40 analyzes multiple characteristics of thefeedback such as the language, the voice quality of the video and thefacial expressions in the video, the server 40 may combine the scorestogether to generate a single user feedback score, by, for example,determining an average, determining a mean, etc.

The server 40 may further evaluate user response to determine a userrating of a media content item. User response data, as used hereinrefers to data collected from the user while watching the media contentitem. For example, sensors 70 associated with a user device 22 may pickup conversations that the user has while watching a movie. Microphonesmay detect that the user is laughing, or that the user made a commentsuch as “I love this soundtrack,” or “Tom Hanks always delivers,” etc.Cameras may detect smiles, expressions of surprise, etc. The data server40 may assign user response scores on a scale of zero to ten, withpositive responses being given larger values, and negative responsesbeing given lower values.

The data server 40 may also determine user preferences and/or ratingsfrom user-user communications. The server 40 may parse words orexpressions attributed to a media content item from communications suchas text messages, emails, social media posts, etc.

The server 40 may identify and assign values to language in thecommunications. As described above with regard to user feedback,positive words or expressions may be given higher values and negativewords or expressions may be given lower values. For example, the dataserver 40 may maintain a table of words and expressions, with assignedvalues. The table may be updated periodically, for example by anoperator, to include new words and expressions, so that, over time, themajority of commonly used words and expressions are accounted for. Theserver 40 may determine an average or mean value of the language of usercommunications with regard to a media content item.

By combining one or more of the scores as determined above, the server40 may determine an overall rating of a user for media content itemsthat a user has viewed. Upon determining a user's rating for aparticular media content item and/or a user's preference values fortypes of media content items, the process 300 continues in a block 304.

In a block 304 the server 40 determines user keywords. User keywords, asused herein, are words or expressions that identify particularcharacteristics or features of a media content item that are determinedto be of particular interest to the user. The data server 40 maymaintain, for example, for media content in general, or for specificitems of media content, a table of keywords that apply to particularcharacteristics or features of the media content item. The data server40 may identify keywords in communications, feedback, etc. from the userthat are included in the table of keywords.

For example, in user feedback, or in user communications, following theviewing of a media content item, the user may indicate that the userreally liked the acting, thought the dialogue was hilarious, and thatJim Carrey was outstanding. Based on these comments, the server 40 mightdetermine the keywords acting, dialogue and Jim Carrey arecharacteristics of the media content item of particular interest to theuser.

When selecting keywords relating a user to a media content item, theserver 40 may prioritize keywords that are used in connection with(i.e., appear in the same phrase as) positive expressions such as“great,” “amazing,” “unforgettable,” etc. The data server 40 may parsethe language, using speech recognition as is known, to identify phraseswithin the communication. Based on the identified phrases, the dataserver 40 may identify phrases that include both a keyword and apositive or negative expression. The data server 40 may further maintaina table of positive and negative expressions, with assigned values toeach of the positive or negative expressions. Keywords that are includedin phrases having positive expressions may be given a relatively highvalue, with the actual value depending on the assigned value to thepositive expression. Similarly, keywords that are included in phraseshaving negative expressions may be given relatively lower values.

Keywords may be or include elements of a movie like acting, dialogue,soundtrack, etc. Keywords may further include feelings, moods, impactetc. of the movie such “sad,” “uplifting,” “feel-good,” “spiritual,”etc. Keywords may further be contributors to the media content such asactors, screenplay writers, directors, etc.

For each media content item viewed by the user, the server 40 mayidentify keywords associating the user with the media content item. Theserver 40 may, based on the keywords identified for the plurality ofmovies viewed by the user, select keywords that occur most often, andaccordingly indicate characteristics or features of media content itemsthat are generally valued by the user.

For example, the server 40 may assign three keywords that associate theuser with each movie that the user viewed, based on user feedback anduser communications. As described above, the data server 40 may maintaintables of keywords. The data server 40 may assign keywords to the usersthat occur in the user communications, with keywords that appear morefrequently, and/or in association with positive words or expressionsbeing given higher priority. The server 40 may then, based on theplurality of movies viewed by the user, identify the three keywords thatwere most often assigned to the user. The server 40 may assign these(most often assigned) three keywords to the user as indicative ofparticular characteristics or features of the media content item ofinterest to the user. Upon assigning keywords to the user indicatingcharacteristics and features of media content items of particularinterest to the user, the process 300 continues in a block 306.

In a block 306 the server 40 determines user-user affinities. User-useraffinities, as used herein, are numerical values on, for example, ascale of zero to ten, indicating the degree of relationship betweenusers and further reflecting a degree of shared values with regard tomedia content. The server 40 determines user-user affinities based onuser data as collected in the process 200.

With regard to a degree of relationship, the server 40 may evaluate aquantity of communications between users and amount of time spenttogether.

For example, the server 40 may determine the number of communications auser has with both other respective users. The server 40 may then rankthe other respective users in order of the number of communications andassign a numerical value between zero and 10 based on the ranking. Userswith the ranking the top 10% they receive a numerical value of 10, usersuse with a ranking between the top 20% and the top 10% they receive anumerical value of nine, etc.

The server 40 may further determine based on communications whether theusers spend time together, have lunch together, work together, etc. Theserver 40 may assign the user-user affinity value in part based on howmuch time the users spend together and in which context.

The server 40 may further determine a correlation in media content usagebetween users, and assign a numeric value to the correlation. The valuemay be, for example in a range of from zero to ten. As part ofdetermining the affinity between two users, the server 40 may determinehow many media content items were viewed by both of them. In the casethat there is a large overlap in the media content viewed by the twousers, the server 40 may assign a high numeric value for affinityassociated with media content usage such as nine or ten. In the casethat there is little or no overlap, the server 40 may assign a lownumeric value for affinity associated with media content usage such aszero or one.

Still further, the server 40 may evaluate a correlation between usersbased on keywords. The server 40 may assign a high keyword affinityvalue to users that have a large number of same keywords and a lowkeyword affinity value to users whose assigned keywords do not have asignificant overlap.

Values such as the numeric value for affinity associated with mediacontent usage and numeric value of affinity based on keywords may benormalized, for example, to a range of zero to ten, such that they maybe averaged to determine an overall affinity value between each pair ofusers.

The server 40 may then combined by averaging, determining a mean, orother statistical methods to determine an overall affinity value foreach user-user pair. As described above, user-user affinities, as usedherein, are numerical values on, for example, a scale of zero to ten,indicating the degree of relationship between users and furtherreflecting a degree of shared values with regard to media content. Ahigher value typically indicates a higher affinity.

Weighted averages may also be determined. Some of the partial affinityratings, for example “degree of relationship” may be weighted morehighly than other partial affinity ratings, such as “keywordaffinities”. The data server 40 may maintain a table and/or algorithmthat indicates the weighting to apply to each partial affinity rating.Upon determining an affinity value for each user-user pair, process 300continues in a block 308.

In the block 308, the server 40 determines media content keywords. Asused herein, media content keywords indicate characteristics or featuresof a media content items identified by users as particularly applying tothe media content item. Based on user data such as user feedback dataand user communications, the server 40 identifies keywords for mediacontent from respective users who have viewed/commented on the mediacontent item. Based on the frequency with which users associateparticular keywords with the media content item, the server 40 may rankthe keywords. The server 40 may then identify the highest rankingkeywords and assign them to the media content item. For example, theserver 40 may choose the five highest ranking keywords and assign themto the respective media content item. The server 40 may do this for eachmedia content item that the data server 40 is tracking. Upon assigningkeywords to the respective media content items, the process 300continues in a block 310.

In the block 310, the server 40 determines correlations between theenvironment in which the user viewed a media content item and the userrating of the media content item. As discussed with regard to theprocess 200, the server 40 collects data indicating where, with whom, onwhat type of device, etc. a user views a media content item. This datamay be stored in association with the media content item that wasviewed.

Upon determining a user rating of the media content item for the user asdescribed in block 302, the server 40 may determine one or moreenvironmental scores indicating a degree to which a respectiveenvironmental characteristic in the viewing environment has acorrelation (as defined above) with a higher rating by the user. Forexample, a correlation between the positive rating and thecharacteristics of the environment in the present context means thatcharacteristics of the environment statistically tended to result in apositive rating. A positive rating, as used in this context may mean arating above a certain threshold, for example eight on a scale of fromzero to ten. Alternatively, a positive rating may mean, for example,that movies viewed with the characteristic of the environment present,are higher, on average, than ratings for movies viewed with thecharacteristic absent.

The data server 40 may determine an environmental score for thecorrelation in a range of from zero to ten. High environmental scores,such as nine or ten indicate that the environmental characteristicsignificantly correlated to a positive rating. Low environmental scoressuch as zero or one indicate that the environmental characteristic didnot significantly correlate to a positive rating.

The data server 40 may identify characteristics of the environment thatstatistically support a high rating. For example, the data server 40 maydetermine that an average rating of media content items viewed by a userwith a particular friend is 8.5 and that the average rating of mediacontent items viewed by the user alone is six. In a similar manner, theserver 40 may evaluate other environmental criteria such as viewing athome versus viewing in a theater, viewing on a large screen TV versusviewing on a mobile device, etc. Characteristics of the environment thatsupport a high rating may receive a high environment score, andcharacteristics of the environment that did not support a high rating arelatively low environmental score. Upon determining correlationsbetween the environments in which the user viewed the media contentitems and the user positive ratings of the respective media contentitems, the process 300 continues in a block 312.

In the block 312, the data server 40 is programmed to generate or updateuser media content recommendations, based on user data as collected inthe process 200. The data server 40 determines a recommendation scorefor each media content item, indicating the likelihood that the userwill enjoy the media content item. The recommendation score may be anumerical value in a range from zero to ten. As described below, thedata server 40 may determine a plurality of partial recommendationscores and combine the partial recommendation scores to determine therecommendation score. Upon determining the recommendation score for eachmedia content item, the data server 40 may rank the media content itemsbased on the scores and present the ranked list to the user.

The data server 40 is programmed to identify and rank media contentitems based on user preferences, user keywords, user-user affinities,media content keywords, and other data. The data server 40 may, forexample generate partial scores for different categories of data, andcombine the scores to rank media content items for a particular user.

The data server 40 may generate a first partial recommendation scorebased on the user preferences. For example, as described with respect tothe block 302 above, the data server 40 may determine, for a first user,a score related to a type of media content such as action, comedy, etc.,for each media content item viewed by the first user. The data server 40may determine the type of the media content item based on metadataassociated with the respective media content item and assign a firstpartial recommendation score based on the type. Using the example givenin block 302, the data server 40 may assign a score of seven for actionmovies, a two for comedies, a 0.5 for sports or drama movies, and zerofor other types of movies.

The data server 40 may determine a second partial score based on userkeywords as they correlate with media content keywords. For example, foreach media content item to be ranked for a first user, the data server40 may determine a degree to which first user keywords associate to themedia content keywords. In this context, for keywords to “associate” toeach other may mean that the keywords match, i.e., are identical, as ina user keyword “acting” and a media content keyword “acting”. Keywordsassociating may also mean, however, having a similar meaning. Forexample, the data server 40 may determine that a user keyword of “happy”matches a movie keyword of “joyful”. The data server 40, for example,may maintain a table indicating keywords that associate to one another.

A close association, for example, the three highest ranked first userkeywords matching media content keywords, may be assigned a high secondpartial recommendation score, such as nine or ten. In the case thatthere is less correlation between the first user keywords and mediacontent keywords, the data server 40, may assign a proportionately lowerscore.

The data server 40 may determine a third partial recommendation scorebased on user-user affinities and feedback of other users related tomedia content items. The data server 40 may calculate the third partialscore by, for example, combining the feedback regarding the mediacontent item of second users connected to the first user, and taking theaverage. Prior to taking the average, the feedback of each of the secondusers may be weighted by the affinity between the respective second userand the first user. Second users connected to the first user may be, forexample, users for which an affinity value has been determined, userswho are members of a group together with the first user, users who havefriended each other in a social media platform, etc.

The data server 40 may determine a fourth partial recommendation scorebased on recommendations received by the first user from second users.As described in additional detail with regard to the process 500 below,the data server 40 may identify second users whose communications withthe first user correlate with first user subsequent media content usage.In the case that a second user whose communications are determined tocorrelate with the first user's media content usage recommends a mediacontent item to the first user, the data server 40 may assign a highfourth partial score such as nine or ten. In the case that no seconduser has recommended the media content item, the data server 40 mayassign a middle range values such as five or six. In the case that asecond user who's communications are determined to correlate with thefirst user's media content usage provides negative input to the firstuser with regard to the media content item, the data server 40 mayassign a low values such as zero or one. In the case that the first userreceives input from multiple second users, the data server 40 maycombine the inputs to determine an average for the fourth partial score.

Upon determining the one or more partial recommendation scores for eachmedia content item, the server 40 may determine an overallrecommendation score for the first user by combining the partial scores.The partial recommendation scores may be combined for example byaveraging, determining a mean, or other suitable statistical methods.

The data server 40 may further update the recommended media content listfor the first user based on the updated recommendation score of themedia content item by adjusting the ranking of the media content itemsin the list or inserting the media content item in the recommendationlist.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an exemplary process 400 for initiating user-userinteractions based on user data. The process 400 starts in a block 402.

In the block 402, the data server 40 receives user data from a firstuser related to media content item. For example, the data server 40 maydetect that the first user finished viewing a media content item andrequest feedback from the user related to the media content item. Theuser may provide comments via a user device 22, which may record a videoof the user's comments.

As another example, the data server 40 may receive data from first usercommunications related to the media content item. As described withregard to the process 300, the data server 40 may parse data from thecommunications.

Based on the user data, the data server 40 may determine a user ratingor other indicia of interest for the media content item, as describedwith regard to the process 300. Upon receiving the user data anddetermining a user rating or other indicia of interest for the mediacontent item, process 300 continues in a block 404.

In the block 404, the data server 40 selects a second user to receivecommunication from the first user related to the media content item.

As a first step, the data server 40 may search for users connected withthe first user, and who have not yet viewed the media content item.Other users connected with the first user may include, for example,other members of a group in which the first user belongs. The group maybe formed, for example, explicitly for sharing media content viewingexperiences.

As another example, the data server 40 may identify other usersconnected with the first user as being all users having an assignedaffinity with the first user, or users having an affinity with the firstuser above a first threshold value.

Upon having identified a group of users connected with the first userand who have not yet viewed the media content item, the data server 40may select, from the group, a second user to receive a communicationfrom the first user. For example, the data server 40 may identify thesecond user by determining the user in the group with the highestaffinity with the first user. As an alternative, the data server 40 mayidentify the second user by determining the user in the group whosekeywords or other indicia of interest most closely correlate with thefirst user's keywords or other indicia of interest. As yet anotherexample, the data server 40 may identify the user by determining theuser in the group who has most recently spoken with the first user.

The data server 40 may use other criteria for determining a second userto receive a recommendation from the first user. For example, the dataserver 40 may identify, from the group of users who are associated withthe first user and who have not yet viewed the media content item, basedon length of time since the first user and the second user have spoken.As one example the data server 40 may determine the second user to bethe user in the group with whom first user has most recently spoken. Asanother example, the data server 40 may determine the second user to bea user in the group with whom the first user has not spoken for a periodof time greater than a predetermined period of time, in order toreconnect the first user and the other user.

Upon selecting the second user to receive the communication from thefirst user, the process 400 continues in a block 406.

In a block 406, the data server 40 generates output to the first user torecommend the media content item to the second user. For example, thedata server 40 may send to the user device 22 associated with the firstuser, a text message indicating that the first user should call thesecond user and recommend the media content item. The output may includecontact information for the second user such as a telephone number,email address, link to send the message, etc.

In some cases, the data server 40 may be programmed to establish acommunication link between a first user device 22 associated with thefirst user and a second user device 22 associated with the second user.For example, the data server 40 may send a graphical user interface(GUI) to the first user indicating that the first user should recommendthe media content item to the second user. The GUI may provide a linkthat initiates a telephone call between the user device 22 associatedwith the first user and the user device 22 associated with the seconduser.

The discussion above addresses connecting a first user to a second user.However, the data server 40 may be programmed to connect multiple usersin a conversation. For example, the data server 40 may create a chatsite, and invite multiple users to join the chat site at a particulartime. One or more of the users may already have viewed the media contentitem, while one or more other media content users may not yet haveviewed the media content item.

Upon establishing the communication between the first user and thesecond user, the process 400 continues in a block 408.

In the block 408, the data server 40 is programmed to evaluate theconversation between the first user and the second user. Theconversation may be evaluated based on one or more criteria to determinea conversation score. The conversation score may be an indication ofwhether the users participating in the conversation enjoyed theconversation, and whether the conversation had an impact on future userbehavior. The data server 40 may determine the conversation score bydetermining and subsequently combining one or more partial conversationscores.

For example, a first partial conversation score for evaluating theconversation may be based on indicators of a quality of the interactionbetween that the first user and the second user. Indicators of aninteraction quality may include a length of the conversation, positivecontent such as language indicating that one of the users really enjoyedspeaking with the other user or the users, the first and second usersplanning to meet each other, and voice quality data indicating that thefirst and second users are happy, language indicating a lot of agreementbetween the first and second users, etc.

One or more of these indicators may be evaluated, and assigned anumerical value. As a first indicator, the data server 40 may maintain atable of lengths of a conversation (measured in minutes) and assign avalue to different lengths. The data server 40 may then, measure alength of the conversation (in minutes) and assign a value based on thetable A length of the conversation of 15 minutes or more may be assigneda value of ten. Conversation from 12 to 15 minutes may be assigned avalue of nine. A conversation with a length of ten to 12 minutes may beassigned a value of eight, etc.

As a second indicator, the language of the conversation may be evaluatedand assigned a value for a level of positive interaction. The values maybe in a range from zero to ten. The data server 40 may be programmed tosearch the language of the conversation, for positive comments from oneuser toward the other, and to assign values to the comments. The dataserver 40 may, for example, maintain a table of expressions, and assigneach expression a value. Expressions like “thanks so much for calling,”“I'm so happy to hear from you,” etc. may be assigned a value such asnine or ten. Expressions such as “what's up,” “I am busy right now,”etc. may be given a low value such as two or three.

As a third indicator, the data server 40 may be programmed to evaluatethe voice quality of each of the first and second users during theconversation. Using voice analysis as is known, the data server 40 mayevaluate voice qualities such as the speed, about of inflection, volume,pitch, etc., of each of the first and second users. As described withregard to the block 302 of process 300, based on these various qualitiesof the speech, the server 40 may determine, for example, that the userwas excited, happy, disappointed, etc., and assign the an emotionalscore to the user's speech. The data server 40 may use tables thatassign emotional scores based on the determined emotional state of theuser. Positive emotions such as happy may have a high score of nine orten. Negative emotions such as disappointment, boredom, etc., may begiven lower scores such as one or two.

The different indicators of a quality of the interaction may be combinedto form a first partial conversation score.

A second partial conversation score may be based on a degree to whichparameters such as an affinity between the first and second userchanges, keywords for the first or the second user, keywords for themedia content, etc. are updated. As described in regard to the process300, the data server 40 may update affinities between users, keywordsassociated with a user, and keywords associated with media contentitems, based on user data received from user-user communications.

The data server 40 may assign a value between zero and ten to the amountof change in an affinity value between the first user and the seconduser. The data server 40 may assign, for example, a numerical value ofone for a 0.1 change in the affinity value, two for a 0.2 change in theaffinity value, up to a value of ten for a one point change or more inthe affinity value.

Further, the data server 40 may assign a value between zero and ten tothe changes to keywords associated with the first user, second user ormedia content item. For example, a change in a keyword associated withone of the first user (e.g., the list of top three keywords changes),second user and media content item may be assigned a value of five, achange in a keyword to two of the first user, second user and mediacontent item may be assigned an eight, and a change in keyword for threeof the first user, second user and media content item may be assigned aten.

The data server 40 may be programmed to determine the second partialconversation score by combining the score associated with the change inaffinity between the first and second users and the score associatedwith the change in keywords. For example, the data server 40 may beprogrammed to take an average of the scores.

Based on the first and second partial conversation scores, the dataserver 40 may be programmed to determine an overall conversation score,by for example averaging the first and second partial scores.

Additional factors may be considered in determining a conversationscore. Further, the conversation score is not static, but may changeover time. For example, usage of media content by one of the first userand second user and/or behavior related to the relationship of the firstand second user subsequent to the conversation may be considered, andthe conversation score updated. As described with regard to the process200, the data server 40 may collect user data periodically or evencontinuously or almost continuously. The data server 40 may increase theconversation score based on data indicating that the second user viewedthe media content item following the conversation. Similarly, the dataserver 40 may increase the conversation score based on data indicatingthat the first user and second user had increased interactions, such asconversations, meetings with each other, etc., subsequent to theconversation.

Upon determining the conversation score, the process 400 continues in ablock 410.

In a block 410, the data server 40 is programmed to update first userdata, second user data, and the media content item data. The data server40 is programmed to store the conversation and associate the storedconversation with each of the first and second user. The data server is40 is further programmed to update first user, second user, the mediacontent keywords as determined in the block 408. Still further, the dataserver 40 is programmed to update first user and second user affinities,and other user and media parameters that may be influenced by theconversation. Upon updating the first and second user data, the process400 continues in a block 412.

In the block 412, the server 40 is programmed to receive first andsecond user media usage data. For example, subsequent to theconversation, the second user may view the media content item discussedduring the conversation. Further, subsequent to the conversation, thefirst and second users may have additional interactions, such asconversations, text communications, meetings, etc. Upon receiving theadditional us usage data, the communications data, etc. related to thefirst and second users, the process 400 continues in a block 414.

In the block 414, the server 40 is programmed to update first user data,second user data, media content data, and when applicable, theconversation score based on the usage data and communications datareceived in the block 412, as described above.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are a diagram of an exemplary process 500 for initiatinguser-user interactions based on correlations between usage data andprevious user-user communications. The process 500 begins in a block502.

In the block 502, the data server 40 is programmed to receivecommunications data related to media content from one or more users. Thecommunications data may include, for example, text messages, emailsexchanges, etc. between users. The communications data may furtherinclude conversations between users. As described with regard to theprocess 200, the data server 40 is programmed to associate thecommunications data with respective users, and store the communicationsdata in the user database 60. Upon receiving and storing thecommunications data, the process 500 continues in a block 504.

In the block 504, the data server 40 is programmed to receive mediausage data associated with users. As described in regard to the block202 of process 200, usage data includes the identify of media contentitems viewed by the user, when the user viewed the respective mediacontent items, the type of device the user used to view the mediacontent items, and other data indicating user media content viewingbehavior. Usage data further includes actions taken by the user duringthe viewing of the media content item such as rewinding the mediacontent to review a segment, fast forwarding the media content item toskip a segment, channel surfing during the viewing of a media contentitem, choosing to record the media content item while viewing it, etc.The data server 40 is programmed to associate usage data with respectiveusers, and store the user data in the user database 60. Upon receivingand store the usage data, the process 500 continues in a block 506.

In the block 506, the data server 40 is programmed, for a first user, tocorrelate usage data with previous communications. That is, the dataserver 40 analyzes first user consumption of media content in light ofcommunications of the first user to identify communications that mayhave impacted the first user's choice of media content. As used withinthe description of the process 500, “first users” refers to users in therole of consuming media content following communications with other,second users. Also within the description of process 500, “second users”refers to users in the role of communicating with first users regardingmedia content items. The data server 40 can consider each user within agroup of users in both of the roles of first user and second user.

The data server 40, based on first user usage data, determines whatmedia content the first user views, as described above with regard toprocess 200. The data server 40 then searches communications from thefirst user in a predetermined time preceding the viewing of the mediacontent item, for communications related to the media content item.Identifying communications encouraging the first user to view a mediacontent item in the predetermined period of time indicates that thecommunications may have influenced the first user's decision.

As an example, each time that the data server 40 determines, based onusage data, that the first user has viewed a media content item, thedata server 40 may be programmed to initiate a search of thecommunications received by the first user (or communication exchanges inwhich the first user participated) for a preceding time period. Thepreceding time period may be, for example, one week, or another suitabletime.

Specifically, the data server 40 may be programmed to search thecommunications in which the first user participated during the timeperiod to identify any references to the movie. In the case that thedata server 40 identifies one or more first user communicationsincluding references to the movie, the data server 40 may analyze eachof the communications to determine whether the communications encouragedthe first user to view the movie or discouraged the first user to viewthe media content item. Using speech recognition techniques as areknown, the data server 40 may look for comments such as “you really needto see this movie, it is amazing”, “I saw that movie, it was a waste oftime”, etc. The data server 40 may assign scores to such expressions.Highly encouraging expressions may be given, for example, a nine or aten. Highly discouraging expressions may be given a score of zero orone. Neutral expressions, such as “It was alright;” may be given amiddle score such as five or six. The data server 40 may maintain atable of expressions with assigned values. The data server 40 may, inthis manner, establish a score for each communication with the firstuser related to the media content item.

The data server 40 may then assign a correlation score for eachcommunication relative to the first user's subsequent behavior. In thecase, that the data server 40 identifies one or more communicationsencouraging the first user to view the media content item prior to thefirst user actually viewing the media content item, the server 40 maydetermine that there was a positive correlation between thecommunication and the first user behavior and assign a correlation scoreof nine or ten. On the other hand, in the case of the data server 40identifies one or more communications discouraging the first user toview the media content item, but the first user views the media contentitem anyway, the data server 40 may determine that there was a negativecorrelation between the communication and the first user behavior andassign a correlation score of zero or one. In the case that thecommunication included neutral expressions, and the first user viewedthe media content item anyway, the data server may assign a correlationscore of five or six.

With each media content item that the first user views, the data server40 continues the process of correlating previous communications withfirst user viewing behavior. In each case, the data server 40 determineswhether the communication has a positive or negative correlation.

The process of correlating first user media content usage with previouscommunications is described above with regard to a single first user.The process, however, can be applied respectively to a plurality offirst users. Upon assigning positive or negative correlation values tocommunications referring to the respective media content items, theprocess 500 continues in a block 508.

In the block 508, the data server 40 is programmed to identify secondusers that are parties to positively correlating communications. Thatis, the data server 40 identifies the participants in conversations, theauthors of emails and text messages, etc. that were positivelycorrelated with first user media usage. Upon identifying the secondusers that are parties to the positively correlating communications, theprocess 500 continues in a block 510.

In a block 510, the data server 40 is programmed to identify a seconduser whose communications highly correlate with first user's mediacontent usage. For example, the data server 40 may rank second usersaccording to the number of positively correlating communications thesecond user had with the first user. The data server 40 may select thesecond user with the highest number of positively correlatingcommunications. As another example, the data server 40 may calculate auser correlation score for one or more respective second users based onthe communications correlation data. The data server 40 may determinethe user correlation score for each of the one or more second users bysubtracting the number of negatively correlating communications from thenumber of positively correlating communications. The data server 40 mayfurther normalize the user correlation scores for the respective secondusers to a range of from zero to ten. Again, the data server 40 may beprogrammed to select the other user with the highest user correlationscore. Upon selecting a second user whose communications highlycorrelate with the first user's media content usage, the process 500continues in a block 512.

In the block 512, the data server 40 selects a media content item as abasis for a first user-second user communication. For example, the dataserver 40 may determine, based on usage data that the second user hasjust completed viewing a media content item. Based on an association offirst user and second user keywords, and/or the affinity between thefirst user and second user being greater than a predetermined threshold,the data server 40 may determine that the media content item would be acandidate media content item for the second user to recommend to thefirst user.

As another example, the data server 40 may inform a media contentprovider of media content items viewed by the second user. The mediacontent provider may send a request to the data server 40 indicatingthat a particular media content item viewed by the second user would bea candidate media content item for the second user to recommend to thefirst user.

Additionally or alternatively to selecting a media content item as abasis for a first user-second user communication, the data server 40may, in a similar manner, select a media content item as a basis forcommunications between the second user and another user, for example athird user.

Upon selecting the media content item as a basis for a first user-seconduser or third user-second user communication, the process 500 continuesin a block 514.

In a block 514, the data server 40 is programmed to establish acommunication link between a user device 22 associated with the firstuser or third user and a second user device 22 associated with thesecond user. For example, the data server 40 may send a graphical userinterface (GUI) to the second user via the second user device 22recommending that the second user discuss the media content item withthe first user. The GUI may provide a link that establishes a telephonecall between the second user device 22 associated with the second userand the first user device 22 associated with the first user.Alternatively, the data server 40 may set up, for example, a chat roomand invite the first and second users to join the chat room, etc. Uponestablishing a communications link between the first user and a seconduser, the process 500 continues in a block 516.

In the block 516, the data server 40 is programmed to record theconversation or text based communication. Upon recording theconversation or text based communication, the process 500 continues in ablock 518.

In the block 518, the data server 40 updates a first user recommendationlist based on the recorded conversation. As described above with regardto the block 312, the data server 40 will determine or update arecommendation score for the first user with regard to the media contentitem and when applicable, adjust a media content recommendation list forthe first user. Adjusting the media content recommendation list mayinclude adding the media content item to the recommendation list. Uponadjusting the media content recommendation list for the first user, theprocess 500 continues in a block 520.

In the block 520, the data server 40 determines that the first user isselecting a media content item. For example, based on usage data fromthe first user, the data server 40 may determine that the first user hasturned on the media device 24 in the first user's location 20 and issearching the user's media content recommendation list, channel surfing,etc. As another example, the data server 40 may determine that the firstuser is watching a trailer for the media content item. Upon determiningthat the first user is searching for a media content item, orconsidering watching the media content item, the process 500 continuesin a block 522.

In the block 522, the data server 40 presents the recording between thefirst user and the second user regarding the media content item. In thismanner, the data server 40 can remind the first user of the excitement,enthusiasm, etc., experienced during the conversation, and can take thisinto consideration in deciding whether to view the media content item.

Upon presenting the recording between the first and second user to thefirst user, the process 500 continues in a block 524.

In the block 524, the data server 40 identifies additional second usercommunications that correlate to first user media usage. Following theprocess 500 as described in the blocks 502 through 510 above, the dataserver 40 identifies, for a plurality of first users, correlations ofsecond users with the media usage of the first users.

As described in the block 506, the data server 40 identifies for eachfirst user, the communications that correlate with first user mediacontent consumption. As described in the block 508, the data server 40further associates second users with the respective communications.Further, as described in the block 510, the data server 40 determinessecond user correlation scores correlating respective first user mediaconsumption with the communications from the respective second users.Upon determining the additional correlation scores of respective seconduser communications to respective first user media usage, associatingrespective second users with the respective communications, anddetermining user correlation scores correlating second users withrespective first user media usage, the process 500 continues in a block526.

In the block 526, the data server 40 determines, for one or more secondusers, an influence score indicating a correlation of the second usercommunications with the media usage for a plurality of first users. Thedata server 40, for example, can determine the influence score for eachsecond user based on the respective scores correlating the second userwith each of the respective first users, as determined in the block 524.

The data server 40, can, for example, select a group of first users. Thegroup of first users can be, for example, all of the plurality of usersconsidered in the block 524 for which correlation scores are available.Alternatively, the group of first users can be all of the users from theplurality of users that subscribe to a particular group related to mediacontent usage for which correlation scores are available. Additionallyor alternatively, the data server 40 can select first users to be usersfor which correlation scores are available that have viewed a minimum ofa certain number of media content items within a predetermined timeperiod, for example 20 media content items in the last 90 days.

Upon selecting the group of first users, the data server 40 may, foreach second user, combine the correlation score of the second usercommunications with each of the selected first users into an influencescore by, for example, determining an average, determining a mean, orother mathematical combination. Upon determining the influence score foreach second user, the process 500 continues in a block 528.

In the block 528, the process 500 selects second users with an influencescore above a predetermined threshold. For example, the influence scoresmay be normalized to a range of zero to ten, and the predeterminedthreshold may be established to be eight. Upon selecting second userswith an influence score above the predetermined threshold, the process500 continues in a block 530.

In the block 530, the data server 40 generates a composite video ofcommunications highlights, related to a media content item. The dataserver 40 identifies communications related to a specific media contentitem from second users with influence scores above the predeterminedthreshold. For one or more of the communications, the data server 40identifies segments of the communications to include in the compositevideo. The segments of the communications may be selected, for example,based on characteristics that indicate a positive content or positiveemotion.

The data server 40 may identify segments of the communications, such asphrases or sentences, using speech recognition techniques as are known.The data server 40 may then analyze, as described below, the segmentsfor characteristics and assign a segment score that indicates a positivecontent or positive emotion and select the segments with a segment scoreabove a predetermined threshold to include in the composite video.

The segment score may be determined based on one or more of (a) words orexpressions within the segment, (b) voice quality of the second userwithin the segment, and (c) facial expressions of the second user duringthe segment.

The data server 40 may determine a first partial segment score based onwords or expressions with the segment. The data server 40 may maintain atable of words and phrases indicating a positive or negative response tothe media content item such as “great,” “awful,” “waste of time,”,“engaging.”, etc. The data server 40 may assign values between zero andten to these words and phrases indicating a positive or negativeresponse to the media content item, as shown in Table 1, above. Based onthe identified words or phrases indicating a positive or negativeresponse within each segment, the data server 40 determines a firstpartial segment score for the segment. The first partial segment scoremay be determined as, for example, an average of the values assigned tothe words and expressions within the segment.

The data server 40 may determine a second partial segment score based onthe voice quality of the second user within the segment. As describedwith regard to the block 302, the data server 40 may utilize voicequality analysis techniques to analyze various qualities of the speechsuch as speed of the speech, inflection, one of tonicity, volume, pitch,etc. the data server 40 may store one or more tables or the likeassociating values or ranges of values for sound characteristics, forexample, speed of the speech, inflection, want to the city, volume,pitch, etc., with respective emotional states. Further, the data server40 may use tables or the like that assign emotional scores for example,on a scale of zero to ten, based on the determined emotional state ofthe second user. Positive emotions such as “happy,” “excitement,” etc.may be assigned high scores, e.g., nine or ten, and negative emotionssuch as disappointment, disinterest, etc., may be assigned lower scoressuch as one or two. The data server 40 may then determine the secondpartial segment score to be, for example, the emotional score for thesegment based on the voice quality of the second user.

The data server 40 may determine a third partial segment score based onfacial expressions of the second user during the segment. Using facialrecognition techniques as are known, the data server 40 may determine anemotional state of the second user such as happy, sad, excited, boredetc. As described with regard to the block 302, the data server 40 maycollect facial expression data such as position of the lips and mouth,position of the eyebrows, position of eyelids, position of four head,etc. The data server 40 may analyze this data to identify expressionssuch as smiles, frowns, expressions of surprise, expressions of disgust,etc. The data server 40 may determine a likely emotional state of theuser based on the identified expressions. The data server 40 may furtheruse tables and assign an emotional scores based on the determinedemotional state of the user. Expressions may be given values from zeroto ten with positive facial expressions getting higher values andnegative facial expressions getting lower values. Based on theidentified facial expressions indicating the likely emotional state ofthe user during each segment, the data server 40 determines a thirdpartial segment score for the segment. The third partial segment scoremay be determined as, for example, the assigned emotional score to thefacial expression of the second user during the segment.

The data server 40 may then determine a segment score based on the oneor more partial segment scores. For example, the data server 40 may takean average of the first, second and third partial segment scores todetermine the segment score.

Upon assigning segment scores to the segments in the communications fromthe second users, the data server 40 selects segments to include in thecomposite video. For example, the data server 40 may select the segmentsfrom the second users' communications with segment scores above apredetermined threshold, e.g., nine. As another example, the data server40 may select the ten segments from second users' communications withthe highest segment scores. As yet another example, the data server 40may rank the segments according to segment scores, and select as many ofthe highest-ranking segments as fit within a predetermined compositevideo length.

The data server 40 then combines the segments to form a composite video.Upon creating the composite video, the data server 40 continues in ablock 532.

In the block 532, the data server 40 provides the composite video to oneor more media content providers associated with the media content itemwhich is the subject of a composite video. Upon providing the compositevideo to the one or more media content providers, the process 500continues in a block 534.

In the block 534, the data server 40 communicates incentives to theidentified second users with correlation scores greater than apredetermined threshold. The incentives may be conceived to encouragethe second users to communicate with first users regarding media contentitems. For example, the second user may receive points which can beexchanged for items such as the streaming of media content items ortickets to movie theaters for each first user who views a media contentitem following communications with the second user. Upon communicatingthe incentives to the second users, the process 500 continues in a block536.

In the block 536, the data server 40 recommends and/or establishesadditional communications between first users and second users. Asdescribed with regard to the blocks 512 and 514, the data server 40identifies a first user to receive a communication from a second user,and a media content item as a topic for the communication. The dataserver 40 then outputs a recommendation to the second user tocommunicate to the first user with regard to the media content item,and/or establishes a communications link between a first user deviceassociated with the first user and a second user device associated withthe second user. Upon recommending/establishing a communication betweenthe first and second users, the process 500 ends.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of an exemplary process 600 for initiating auser-user interaction based on a selected topic related to a mediacontent item. The process 600 starts in a block 602.

In the block 602, the data server 40 selects, based on user data, afirst user and a second user to participate in a conversation related toa media content item. For example, the data server 40 may, based on userusage data determine that the first user has viewed the media contentitem. The data server 40 may further determine that there is a strongaffinity, i.e., an affinity above a specified threshold, between thefirst user and a second user who has not yet viewed the media contentitem. Additionally or alternatively, the data server 40 may determinethat there is an association between the first user keywords and seconduser keywords or a correlation above a specified threshold between thefirst user keywords and second user keywords.

Upon selecting the first user and the second user to initiate aconversation based on user data, the process 600 continues in a block604.

In a block 604, the data server 40 selects a topic as a conversationstarter between the first and second users. For example, the first user,in feedback related to the media content item, may have identified theacting in the media content item as the element that the first user mostappreciated. As described above, the user may have said in the feedbackthat the user “really liked the acting” or that “Jim Carey wasoutstanding”. Based on these comments, the server 40 might determinethat acting is a keyword indicating a characteristic of the mediacontent item of particular interest to the user.

Further, the data server 40 may determine, based on second userkeywords, or other second user data, that the second user values goodacting. Based on the first and second user data, the data server 40 mayselect acting as a topic, and particularly acting with the media contentitem, for starting a conversation between the first and second user.

In some cases, the topic for starting the conversation may be chosenindependently of user data. For example, a media content provider maythink that a particular characteristic of a media content item isoutstanding, and may wish to determine whether this characteristic is aneffective topic for starting a conversation.

Upon selecting a topic for initiating a conversation between the firstuser and the second user, the process 600 continues in a block 606.

In the block 606 the data server 40 establishes a communication betweenthe first user and the second user. For example, the data server 40 mayoutput data to the first user recommending that the first user contactthe second user and discuss the acting in the media content item. Inorder to facilitate the conversation, the data server 40 may instruct afirst user device 22 associated with the first user to connect with asecond user device 22 associated with the second user.

As another example, the data server 40 may establish an onlineconnection between the first user and the second user. The data server40 may for example send out a message to the first and second userrecommending to “talk about the acting in the movie [name of mediacontent item]” and invite the first and second user to join a chat room,or other online discussion forum. Upon initiating the communicationbetween the first and second users, the process 600 continues in a block608.

In the block 608, the data server 40 records the conversation. Uponrecording the conversation, the process 600 continues in a block 610.

In a block 610, the data server 40 collects user media usage data withregard to the first and second user, as described with regard to theprocess 200. In particular, the data server 40 collects data indicatingwhether the second user has viewed the media content item discussed inthe conversation. Upon collecting the first and second user media usagedata, the process 600 continues in a block 612.

In the block 612, the data server 40 collects user data related to firstuser—second user interactions. The data server 40 collects data userdata such as the number of conversations between the first and secondusers, the number of text messages exchanged, number of emailsexchanged, the amount of time spent together, etc. Upon collecting theuser data related to first user second user interactions, the process612 continues in a block 614.

In the block 614, the data server 40 evaluates the topic used that theconversation starter. The data server 40 may evaluate the topic based onseveral different criteria.

As a first criterion, the data server 40 may evaluate the quality of theconversation. The quality of the conversation can be taken as anindication of the effectiveness of the chosen topic. The data server 40may evaluate how long the conversation lasted, the level of positiveinteraction between the first and second user, voice quality data of thefirst and second user, etc. to determine the quality of theconversation. As described in detail above in reference to block 408 ofprocess 400, the data server 40 may determine a score for the quality ofconversation between zero and ten, with the higher score indicating amore positive experience relative to a lower score.

As a second criterion, the data server 40 may evaluate a correlationbetween the conversation and first and second user media usage data. Inparticular, the data server 40 may determine whether the second userviewed the media content item within a predefined time. Following theconversation.

As a third criterion, the data server 40 may evaluate first user—seconduser interactions following the conversation. The data server 40 mayassign a higher score such as nine or 10 to increase interactions and alower score such as one or two to decrease interactions.

As a fourth criterion, the data server 40 may evaluate a percentage ofthe conversation devoted to discussion the topic. A high percentage ofthe conversation devoted to the topic may indicate that the topic was aneffective topic for starting the conversation, resulting in a highscore. A low percentage of the conversation devoted to the topic mayresult in a low score. For example, in the example given above, in thecase that the first and second users devoted a large portion of theconversation discussing acting in the media content item, or even actingin general, the data server 40 may assign a high score to thiscriterion, such as nine or ten on a ten point scale.

The data server 40 may combine the scores for the different criteria toform an overall evaluation score for the topic. Upon generating thescores for the various criteria and/or an overall score, the process 600continues in a block 616.

In the block 616, the data server 40 outputs one or more of the scoresdetermined in the block 614. For example, the data server 40 may outputthe score for the second criterion, i.e., the correlation between theconversation and second user usage data to media content providers. Thescore may be an indication that the topic used to start the conversationis or is not an effective topic. As another example, the data server 40may output the overall communication score to media content providers orother users as an indication that the topic supports or does not supportpositive interactions between users.

Upon outputting the evaluation scores related to the conversation and/ortopic, the process 600 ends.

CONCLUSION

As used herein, the adverb “substantially” means that a shape,structure, measurement, quantity, time, etc. may deviate from an exactdescribed geometry, distance, measurement, quantity, time, etc., becauseof imperfections in materials, machining, manufacturing, etc.

The term “exemplary” is used herein in the sense of signifying anexample, e.g., a reference to an “exemplary widget” should be read assimply referring to an example of a widget.

Networked devices such as those discussed herein generally each includeinstructions executable by one or more networked devices such as thoseidentified above, and for carrying out blocks or steps of processesdescribed above. For example, process blocks discussed above may beembodied as computer-executable instructions.

Computer-executable instructions may be compiled or interpreted fromcomputer programs created using a variety of programming languagesand/or technologies, including, without limitation, and either alone orin combination, Java™, C, C++, Visual Basic, Java Script, Perl, HTML,etc. In general, a processor (e.g., a microprocessor) receivesinstructions, e.g., from a memory, a computer-readable medium, etc., andexecutes these instructions, thereby performing one or more processes,including one or more of the processes described herein. Suchinstructions and other data may be stored and transmitted using avariety of computer-readable media. A file in a networked device isgenerally a collection of data stored on a computer readable medium,such as a storage medium, a random access memory, etc.

A computer-readable medium includes any medium that participates inproviding data (e.g., instructions), which may be read by a computer.Such a medium may take many forms, including, but not limited to,non-volatile media, volatile media, etc. Non-volatile media include, forexample, optical or magnetic disks and other persistent memory. Volatilemedia include dynamic random access memory (DRAM), which typicallyconstitutes a main memory. Common forms of computer-readable mediainclude, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk,magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any otheroptical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium withpatterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, any othermemory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer canread.

In the drawings, the same reference numbers indicate the same elements.Further, some or all of these elements could be changed. With regard tothe media, processes, systems, methods, etc. described herein, it shouldbe understood that, although the steps of such processes, etc. have beendescribed as occurring according to a certain ordered sequence, suchprocesses could be practiced with the described steps performed in anorder other than the order described herein. It further should beunderstood that certain steps could be performed simultaneously, thatother steps could be added, or that certain steps described herein couldbe omitted. In other words, the descriptions of processes herein areprovided for the purpose of illustrating certain embodiments, and shouldin no way be construed so as to limit the claimed invention.

Accordingly, it is to be understood that the above description isintended to be illustrative and not restrictive. Many embodiments andapplications other than the examples provided would be apparent to thoseof skill in the art upon reading the above description. The scope of theinvention should be determined, not with reference to the abovedescription, but should instead be determined with reference to theappended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which suchclaims are entitled. It is anticipated and intended that futuredevelopments will occur in the arts discussed herein, and that thedisclosed systems and methods will be incorporated into such futureembodiments. In sum, it should be understood that the invention iscapable of modification and variation and is limited only by thefollowing claims.

All terms used in the claims are intended to be given their plain andordinary meanings as understood by those skilled in the art unless anexplicit indication to the contrary in made herein. In particular, useof the singular articles such as “a,” “the,” “said,” etc. should be readto recite one or more of the indicated elements unless a claim recitesan explicit limitation to the contrary.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A computing device comprising programinstructions to: one or more processors; and a memory communicativelycoupled with and readable by the one or more processors and havingstored therein processor-readable instructions which, when executed bythe one or more processors, cause the computing device to: collect dataindicative of a plurality of users having viewed or not viewed a mediacontent item and determining that one or more users of the plurality ofusers have not viewed the media content item; select, based at least inpart on respective indicia of interest for media content for each of theplurality of users, a first user and a second user to engage in a verbalconversation related to the media content item, where the selecting thefirst user and the second user is based at least in part on thecollected data and the indicia of interest indicating at least one valueindicating types of media content associated with each of the first userand the second user of the plurality of users, where the second user isselected based at least in part on the second user being identified asone user of the one or more users of the plurality of users that havenot viewed the media content item; select a topic related to the mediacontent item for the verbal conversation; initiate the verbalconversation between the first and second user based on the topic bysending a link to establish the verbal conversation; record the verbalconversation; generate a recommendation of one or more media items fromthe verbal conversation; and upon determining that the first user isselecting a media content item from the recommendation of one or moremedia items generated from the verbal conversation, present the recordedverbal conversation about the media content item being selected betweenthe first and second user to the first user.
 2. The computing device ofclaim 1, wherein the indicia of interest for the plurality of usersincludes at least one of (a) numerical values indicating types of mediacontent associated with each of the respective users, (b) keywordsindicating characteristics or features of media content items ofinterest to the plurality of users or (c) numerical ratings of mediacontent items for the plurality of users.
 3. The computing device ofclaim 1, wherein selecting the first user and the second user to engagein the verbal conversation includes determining that an affinity betweenthe first user and the second user is greater than a predeterminedthreshold.
 4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein selecting themedia content item for the verbal conversation between the first userand the second user includes determining, based on user data, that thatfirst user has viewed the media content item and the second user has notviewed the media content item.
 5. The computing device of claim 1,wherein selecting the topic for the verbal conversation between thefirst user and the second user includes: determining an associationbetween a first keyword associated by the first user with the mediacontent item and a second keyword associated with the second user. 6.The computing device of claim 5, wherein first keywords and secondkeywords that are associated includes at least one of (1) first keywordsand second keywords that are identical and (2) first keywords and secondkeywords that are identified in a predefined table as associated.
 7. Thecomputing device of claim 1, the processor-readable instructions furthercausing the computing device to: process the topic for the verbalconversation received from a provider of the media content item.
 8. Thecomputing device of claim 1, the processor-readable instructions furthercausing the computing device to: establish a communications link betweena first user device associated with the first user and a second userdevice associated with the second user.
 9. The computing device of claim1, the processor-readable instructions further causing the computingdevice to: determine a rating for the topic based on at least one of (a)a length of the verbal conversation, (b) a level of positive interactionbetween the first and second users, (c) voice quality data of the firstand second users during the verbal conversation, (d) whether the seconduser viewed the media content item within a predetermined time followingthe verbal conversation, or (e) a change in quantity of interactionsbetween the first and second users following the verbal conversation;and output the rating for the topic to at least one of the first user,the second user and a media content provider.
 10. The computing deviceof claim 1, the processor-readable instructions further causing thecomputing device to: update an affinity value between the first user andthe second user based on the verbal conversation; and determine a ratingfor the topic based on the updating of the affinity value; and output anindication of effectiveness of the topic to at least one of the firstuser, the second user and a media content provider.
 11. A methodcomprising: collecting data indicative of a plurality of users havingviewed or not viewed a media content item and determining that one ormore users of the plurality of users have not viewed the media contentitem; selecting, based at least in part on respective indicia ofinterest for media content for each of the plurality of users, a firstuser and second user to engage in a verbal conversation related to themedia content item, where the selecting the first user and the seconduser is based at least in part on the collected data and the indicia ofinterest indicating at least one value indicating types of media contentassociated with each of the first user and the second user of theplurality of users, where the second user is selected based at least inpart on the second user being identified as one user of the one or moreusers of the plurality of users that have not viewed the media contentitem; selecting a topic related to the media content item for the verbalconversation; initiating the verbal conversation between the first andsecond user based on the topic by sending a link to establish the verbalconversation; recording the verbal conversation; generating arecommendation of one or more media items from the verbal conversation;and upon determining that the first user is selecting a media contentitem from the recommendation of one or more media items generated fromthe verbal conversation, presenting the recorded verbal conversationabout the media content item being selected between the first and seconduser to the first user.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the indiciaof interest for the plurality of users includes at least one of (a)numerical values indicating types of media content associated with eachof the respective users, (b) keywords indicating characteristics orfeatures of media content items of interest to the plurality of users or(c) numerical ratings of media content items for the plurality of users.13. The method of claim 11, wherein selecting the first user and thesecond user to engage in the verbal conversation includes determiningthat an affinity between the first user and the second user is greaterthan a predetermined threshold.
 14. The method of claim 11, whereinselecting the media content item for the verbal conversation between thefirst user and the second user includes determining, based on user data,that that first user has viewed the media content item and the seconduser has not viewed the media content item.
 15. The method of claim 11,wherein selecting the topic for the verbal conversation between thefirst and second user includes: determining an association between afirst keyword associated by the first user with the media content itemand a second keyword associated with the second user.
 16. The method ofclaim 15, wherein first keywords and second keywords that are associatedincludes at least one of (1) first keywords and second keywords that areidentical and (2) first keywords and second keywords that are identifiedin a predefined table as associated.
 17. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising: receiving the topic for the verbal conversation from aprovider of the media content item.
 18. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising: establishing a communications link between a first userdevice associated with the first user and a second user deviceassociated with the second user.
 19. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising: determining a rating for the topic based on at least one of(a) a length of the verbal conversation, (b) a level of positiveinteraction between the first and second users, (c) voice quality dataof the first and second users during the verbal conversation, (d)whether the second user viewed the media content item within apredetermined time following the verbal conversation, and (e) a changein quantity of interactions between the first and second users followingthe verbal conversation; or outputting the rating for the topic to atleast one of the first user, the second user and a media contentprovider.
 20. The method of claim 11, further comprising: updating anaffinity value between the first user and the second user based on theverbal conversation; determining a rating for the topic based on theupdating of the affinity value; and outputting an indication ofeffectiveness of the topic to at least one of the first user, the seconduser and a media content provider.